Tell Hospitals to Make their Prices Public

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how two different people who get the same procedure at the same hospital end up paying two very different prices. You can read why this happens here.

Obviously it's not a practice that benefits the patient. And today a friend of mine informed about an initiative by the Consumers Union. It's a petition to make the prices of procedures public.

Hospitals always have the choice of making their prices public. However, as most of you know, they chose not to so as to keep patients from comparing prices, especially with other patients from the same hospital. In fact, the law in many states protect them and allow them to keep their prices secret. Even when they are not protected by law, they still won't release their prices willingly.

It's very hard to know what the average price of a certain procedure will cost. Some patients complain that hospitals are reluctant to tell them the price of the procedure they're going to go through beforehand.

If you strongly disagree with this practice, sign this petition and tell hospitals that you don't believe what they're doing is fair.

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Robert Ervin is a freelancer who writes about healthcare, medical tourism, and living in Mexico.

If you're considering traveling to Mexico for healthcare or retiring in Mexico, you may want to get yourself a copy of The English's Speaker's Guide to Doctors and Hospitals in Mexico, in order to find a good doctor or hospital in the main towns and cities of Mexico, or The English Speaker's Guide to Medical Care in Mexico, to understand how the Mexican healthcare system works.